Guggenheim Helsinki Museum Competition

Location : Helsinki, Finland

Year : 2014

Status : Competition

Area : 12,100 m2

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Guggenheim Helsinki Museum Competition

CRYSTAL ICEBERG

THE SOLOMON R. GUGGENHEIM MUSEUM IN HELSINKI

To design the Guggenheim Museum could be the highest ambition an architect may long for; to stand in the shoes of the greats in the world of architecture and to challenge one’s self artistic abilities and potentials.

The design process of a museum of such great history could bring myriads of challenges. The proposed project should be iconic, creative, context-oriented, progressive, and compatible with environment. The confrontation of steel and concrete with the man and the environment in the threads of the project’s nature may seem so complicated. On the one hand, the observer is given a broad view with the destruction of the old building currently present in the site, on the other hand, through putting the new mass in place, a more portion of the observer’s view would be blocked. The initial challenge will be born in here; the building should not distort the observer’s view. Consequently we took the first step trying to distancing part of the building from the ground so that the solidity of the museum and the blockade of the general observer’s view to the sea would decrease. Also, through decreasing the height of the museum, the perfect view of the observer would be preserved. This same view itself talks about a green connection between the nearby park and the rooftop of the museum that would come into existence; the pedestrian way that would connect the two sides of the street on a level higher than the traffic level and would stretch the park greenery to the seaside. This movement diagram would cause some surfaces to come into existence which in turn connects the rooftop to the ground in a way that the pedestrian circulation would get underway between ground level of the site and the park.

The building could come up with the potential to turn itself into an iconic landmark besides showcasing the precious pieces of art as well as a place to provide a friendly ambience for the people to socialize and communicate. In all the connecting pathways of the project, the attempt has been made to broaden the view towards the natural scenery around. Moreover, all the pathways have been planned in a way to overlook one another.

All in all, the museum could resemble an iceberg separated from its birth place trying to boast of its crystal and dynamic world as an iconic landmark in the city.